The Khun Hynñiewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM) has voiced uncertainty about the Meghalaya government’s seriousness in addressing the long-pending issue of the state reservation policy.
KHNAM working president Thomas Passah stated that the party had expressed its fears when the expert committee on the 1972 reservation policy was constituted, suspecting that it might be a delaying tactic by the state government.
Passah recalled that the expert committee had called for comments, views and suggestions from stakeholders, including political parties and NGOs, on April 27, 2024. KHNAM had met the committee and submitted its suggestions but there has been no update from the government since then.
The committee was formed after a call from the Voice of the People Party and its supporters for a relook at the reservation policy, which ascribes equal quotas of 40 percent each to the Garo and Khasi-Jaintia communities in state jobs and higher education despite the latter being significantly larger in population that the former.
“We are uncertain about the seriousness of the state government in materialising this long-pending issue,” Passah said.
KHNAM has urged the government to be transparent by providing updates on the expert committee’s progress, given the financial expenditure incurred for the committee’s running.
